Thanks to TechLawAdvisor for emailing me about this WSJ Article on the increased use of search engines. It cites a report discussed here earlier regarding the increasing use of both search engines and direct navigation to access websites. However given that the report bundles both bookmarks and URLs under the heading ‘direct navigation,’ this particular report does not support the article’s thought that domain names will become irrelevant (although this is the second time in a week that someone other than me expressed that fanstasy outloud.)

Strange but true: The outbreak of war has made CNN one of the most searched-for terms in search engines, which, the WSJ author notes, given CNN’s location at cnn.com, is equivalent to calling up directory assistance and asking for the number for 1-800-FLOWERS.

UPDATE: (actually an improvement): An astute reader (the best kind) writes in to point out that typing CNN into Google and hitting “I’m feeling lucky” involves fewer keystrokes for the user who wants CNN but isn’t precisely sure it’s at www.cnn.com. As a bonus he provides this nifty article with a graph of people who typed in CNN on 9/11 and discussed Google in depth. One more argument for using real navigational systems like directories instead of guessing domain names.